When it gets hot, the cucumbers come out to play. (And not a moment too soon -- last week, the sky was so hot over New York that it literally exploded.)

So often we forget to celebrate the sweet traits of cucumbers, their clean taste and unflagging pep, and we turn them into little more than a crunchy vehicle for vinegary brines or creamy dressings. Those can be delicious, but cucumbers have a flavor too, one that can be glossed up without paving over.

In Hot Sour Salty Sweet, Naomi Duguid and Jeffrey Alford -- authors of six cookbooks born from their travels through Asia -- published a genius recipe that does just that.

"It differs from other cucumber salads primarily in the light oily dressing that coats the vegetables. It's still light, but has that sort of glistening slickness to it as well, whereas most cucumber salads are stoic and all vinegar, or are leadened with mayo," Shockey explains. "This falls somewhere right in the middle."

Want to see? Here's how it comes together, in not much more time than it takes to slice a cucumber.

You peel your cucumber in zebra stripes and seed it if you like, then crush it lightly to breach its defenses and allow the dressing to filter in. Duguid and Alford say to bash it with the side of a knife, and how you interpret "bash" will depend on your priorities: fun vs. cleanup. I have a tiny, cluttered kitchen, and although I like attacking things, I find enough wayward clumps of food on the walls. A slow, nonchalant lean against the side of a knife works too.

From there, the dressing happens in two stages: first, a sprinkling of rice vinegar and sugar.

Then a wok-fired chili oil that clangs with three kinds of pepper: Sichuan, dried red chiles, and fresh serrano. You pour it on while it's still sizzling and the cucumbers drink it in.

Cilantro tumbles in too and the cucumbers are officially surrounded by bright splashy flavors, none so much to steal the show.

You can eat it right away -- with some grilled fish or lamb with cumin, perhaps -- or it can sit around in the fridge for a few days as a mellow pickle to snack on. It'll stay crunchy. It's also good for tempering spicier food -- the rush of cold cucumber helps you keep going when your Gong Bao Chicken is making you pant and sweat.

Either way, don't forget -- cucumbers just want to have fun. And look how much fun they're having!

I'm an ex-economist, ex-Californian who moved to New York to work in food media in 2007. Dodgy career choices aside, I can't help but apply the rational tendencies of my former life to things like: recipe tweaking, digging up obscure facts about pizza, and deciding how many pastries to put in my purse for "later."

Hot Sour Salty Sweet is one of my absolute favorite cookbooks. This salad is wonderful and it comes together in a snap. We enjoyed it as a side to Midge's Okonomiyaki and it turned out to be a lovely pairing - a delicious study in contrasts.

Anxious to try this recipe, I clicked "print," and received EIGHT pages! consisting of all the intro paragraphs, all the photos and a couple of ads. I did manage to get the recipe, plus seven pages to throw into the recycle bin. What a waste! Is it me or your Web site?

Can't help but wonder what Lauren Shockey means when she writes, "... most cucumber salads are stoic ...". Food writers sometimes say the most ridiculous things. Good for a laugh, though, while enjoying my cucumbers. Reminds me of Posh Nosh:
http://www.youtube.com...

Cucumbers have been a staple in our family for generations (my older sister swears that pickles are still a "green vegetable"!) so I always love a new recipe to try. This one looks fantastic.

Kristen, 2 questions:
1. Any idea of what to do with Cucumber Lime Vodka? I'm stumped.
2. Do you have any good recipes using the big, curly, sweet Asian cukes (or are they melons?) My neighbor's garden is overflowing and I've never tried these before.

A Cucumber, Lime, Basil Martini perhaps? http://bit.ly/9HOAoa And I've actually infused vodka with the snake melon. Cool and grassy. I thought they were Armenian, but maybe we're thinking of different cukes. Enjoy!

Thanks for the ideas KK and Kristen. The vodka is just kind of "strange", but in a good way, just not for sipping. Will experiment and post any notable results.

As for the "cuke/melon"... KK!! Thanks for the proper identity of this thing: Snake Melon. We had no clue what they were called. LOL Should be ripe for picking this week so it'll be fun to also experiment with. May have to call in the "Big Guns" (aargersi) on this one.

I would surrender a favorite cooking tool for a recipe that displaysthe coolness of cucumbers without the heat ( or cilantro!). Consuming cucumbers has surprising calming effect - and is a natural remedy for lowering blood pressure. Probably my favorite way to serve cucumbers was Granpa's creation. Slice cukes thinly (peel optional according to preference). Put in a smallish bowl with a little crushed ice. Pour in red wine vinegar and shake a good shake of black pepper. So welcome in hot weather, especially, and delish!